{"id":4237,"date":"2014-05-22T12:59:07","date_gmt":"2014-05-22T11:59:07","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/integrationtraining.co.uk\/blog\/?p=4237"},"modified":"2014-05-22T12:59:07","modified_gmt":"2014-05-22T11:59:07","slug":"body-coaching-embodied-approaches-tools-tips","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.integrationtraining.co.uk\/blog\/2014\/05\/body-coaching-embodied-approaches-tools-tips\/","title":{"rendered":"The Body in Coaching – Embodied approaches, tools and tips"},"content":{"rendered":"

\"\"Your body is the ground metaphor of your life, the expression of your existence. It is your Bible, your encyclopaedia, your life story.\u201d – Gabrielle Roth<\/p>\n

Why the body is important for coaches<\/strong><\/p>\n

<\/strong>The body is an integral part of what it means to be human, so needs to be an aspect of effective coaching. Coaching as a discipline came from the body athletic – the standard Western view of the body as a machine that carries the head around – so physicality was quickly ignored by most early coaching schools which focused on language and thinking. As coaching has matured some schools have reintegrated the body to some extent and there are several embodied specialists such as Strozzi Institute, Leadership Embodiment and my own Embodied Facilitator Course. Coaching can include \u201cthe body\u201d as in health and wellbeing, but an \u201cembodied\u201d approach to coaching is interested in the subjective lived experience of the body, not it\u2019s size and shape, but how we are in the short and long term. Embodied coaching concerns posture, movement, breathing, intention and awareness – these are the core tools of an embodied coach. It views the body as critical to a coachee\u2019s perception (we see \u201cthrough\u201d our bodies\u201d, cognition (we think with our whole bodies), emotions (which have \u201cgeography\u201d in the body), identity (we stand and move who we are), learning (perhaps the essence of coaching – if information were enough Wikipedia would have solved the world\u2019s problems), values spirituality (not mere theory), action in the world, creativity, communication and relationships. The body is much more than just a \u201cbrain taxi\u201d as my colleague Francis Briers is fond of saying!<\/p>\n

A Framework<\/strong><\/p>\n

The image below shows a framework that can be used for embodied coaching based on Daniel Goleman\u2019s model of emotional intelligence (a subset of embodied intelligence). It is important for an embodied coach to have skills in all these areas.<\/p>\n

Embodied-Self-Awareness<\/strong> includes body awareness.\u00a0Awareness of posture and movement, emotional awareness and intuition.<\/p>\n

Embodied Social Awareness<\/strong> includes awareness of other people\u2019s embodiments, being able to \u201cread\u201d bodies, empathy and emotional connection, and awareness of group moods.<\/p>\n

Embodied Self-Management<\/strong> includes postural and attentional adjustment, breath control (e.g. diaphragmatic breathing), mood management \u2013 e.g. confidence building and relaxing or enlivening oneself<\/p>\n

Embodied Social Management<\/strong> includes leadership, influence, impact (charisma, presence, gravitas), nonverbal mimicking and rapport building, Interruption of unconscious mirroring (e.g. during vicious conflict cycles) and trust building<\/p>\n

\"\"<\/p>\n

Embodied tips for coaches<\/strong><\/p>\n

Working with the body is best not approached as something that can be tagged onto what coaches already know. It takes some years of a regular embodied practice (e.g. yoga or martial arts) to get back into ones own body from the typical disembodied state and specialist training is often required. That being said there are some things any coach can do to bring the body back into their work at least to some degree immediately.<\/p>\n

\u25a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0 Notice your own body while coaching or training \u2013 just doing this will add a new dimension to your work<\/p>\n

\u25a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0 Pay attention to participants\/clients physicality\u00a0– how they stand, sit and hold themselves. Be curious, don\u2019t jump to conclusions<\/p>\n

\u25a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0 Get a body awareness practice yourself \u2013 yoga, tai chi and martial arts are fantastic, though any physical activity done with attention is fine<\/p>\n

\u25a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0 Learn to manage yourself under pressure by practicing the ABC \u201ccentring\u201d process – can also be done with coachees at the start of sessions:<\/p>\n

– Become Aware<\/strong> of your body especially your breathing<\/p>\n

– Balance<\/strong> your posture and attention<\/p>\n

– Relax your \u201cCore-line<\/strong>\u201d (eyes, mouth and stomach muscles)<\/p>\n

\u25a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0 Learn to access and trust your gut instinct by paying attention to it<\/p>\n

\u25a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0 Get feedback on what overall mood your body conveys in coaching (we are all blind to this so you may be surprised!)<\/p>\n

Principles for working with clients with the body<\/strong><\/p>\n

<\/strong>Often coaches I trained are scared to bring the body into their work as it can be counter-cultural especially with many corporate clients. I have found however it is not a problems with any client, and I have deliberately sought the \u201chardest\u201d ones, if some guidelines are followed:<\/p>\n